The Australian super industry suffered a blow last quarter with assets reaching $507.7 billion – that’s almost $9 billion down on the previous quarter.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's (APRA) latest edition of Super Trends, released yesterday, uses information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and 368 Australian super funds.

Contributions were down more than 4%, to $12.2 billion in the last quarter, according to APRA. Employers contributed $8.4 billion, a slight increase on the previous quarter. But member contributions were down $530 million, or 12.3%.

Small funds were far more successful than their mainstream counterparts, with assets growing by 2.4%. Retirement savings accounts and industry funds also experienced growth.